Conventional machines for the manufacture of personal sanitary products comprise feed means supplying a first continuous web of material, and a device serving to fashion a succession of absorbent pads that are then placed on the first web, the surface of the web having been primed with adhesive. The first web, providing the so-called backsheet, is made typically of an impermeable plastic material such as PET, for example.
The pads are fashioned by a device that comprises feed means supplying a band of cellulose, and grinding components by which the cellulose is broken up to produce an incoherent mass of fibres, or fluff.
The fibres are then gathered into special vacuum pockets to form the pads, ready for application to the first web.
The first web of material is carried by a conveyor and directed along a rectilinear feed path. By way of example, the rectilinear conveyor consists in a transport belt.
The pads are applied to the first web at a given point along the rectilinear feed path. Thereafter, likewise along the rectilinear path, other discrete parts are fashioned and applied to the items in production by dedicated auxiliary systems.
In the case of a baby's nappy (diaper) or an adult incontinence pad, for example, a succession of front and rear panels may be added to provide closure tabs.
Thus, in prior art machines for manufacturing personal sanitary items, all the assembly steps take place along the rectilinear path.
Prior art machines also comprise feed means supplying a second web of material that is bonded to the first web in such a way that the pads, at least, remain sandwiched between the two webs.
The second web, providing the so-called topsheet, is made of a nonwoven fabric and constitutes the part of the product placed in direct contact with the wearer.
The continuous web of assembled materials is divided at a cutting station into a succession of discrete items.
Disadvantageously, machines of the prior art are affected by certain drawbacks.
Firstly, the use of pads consisting in a mass of incoherent fibres dictates that space must be dedicated specifically to a line for the preparation of such a material. Consequently, the overall dimensions of conventional machines are decidedly large.
Moreover, since the pads are fashioned from incoherent material that is highly volatile and liable to scatter, they must be handled with appreciable care and delicacy, even after being applied to the first web.
Accordingly, the number of defective items produced is by no means negligible, given that the handling of the first web along the rectilinear path is not always precise. In particular, the first web frequently becomes misaligned, so that the pads and/or other additional components will be positioned incorrectly when placed on the web, and the defective item must be discarded.